To protect elephants, just add water

Excellent Development

In 2015, our former Executive Director, Simon Maddrell travelled to Northern Kenya to see if sand dams could help transform the lives of people in this remote, drought-prone area. But he found that it’s not just people who are suffering from lack of water, but wildlife, and in particular elephants, too. Read his story and find out how you can help.

Acting in self-defense

"In January (2015), an elephant was shot in Northern Kenya. It is widespread and worrying news that elephant poaching has been steadily on the rise, chiefly to fuel demand for ivory in the Far East.

"Yet, the elephant I'm talking about was not a victim of greed for ivory, but of conflict over water: This elegant giant, startled at a water hole by a man and his livestock, had charged in panic. The man, equally startled, and in fear for his life, had fired his gun in self-defence.

"Simon Njalis, a wildlife warden, told me: 'We heard a gunshot and went to the scene… we followed the blood and found the carcass two to three kilometres away.'

"I remember the overwhelming smell most of all. The macabre carcass was barely recognisable as the beautiful animal I admire above all others.

"After being shot it had stumbled two to three kilometres - falling, at last, within the boundaries of Lekurruki conservancy – a community owned conservation area in Kenya.

Sharing space

"However, this region is suffering from ever longer periods of drought. People and wildlife, forced to travel ever further in search of water, often come into conflict at dwindling water sources. It is a recipe for disaster for people and elephants alike. Simon Njalis explained 'This is the elephants’ home... when there’s a drought, people bring their cows into the conservancy area to graze and the elephants get scared and defend their home.'

"People do not live in isolation from nature. They are intimately connected to the resources it provides. Linking wildlife conservation with improved livelihoods is the best way to protect vulnerable species and create opportunities for some of the poorest people to transform their lives. Providing a secure future for Africa’s elephants requires better water and land management too.

The solution is sand dams

"For rural drylands like Lekurruki, where many elephants live, that means sand dams. Sand dams are a perfect water source for elephants, who are well known for digging water from sandy riverbeds – just like many rural dryland people. And, just like people, they prefer water found this way to open water holes because it is clean.

Please consider making a donation today to enable more pastoralist communities to extend the network of sand dams in the Northern Rangelands, providing their families, neighbours, livestock as well as wildlife with clean water for life.

Please select a donation amount: *

£15could provide a claw bar, an essential tool used to break rocks into smaller pieces.

£40could provide a wheelbarrow, to transport rocks, sand and cement on the dam site.

£60could supply a roll of barbed wire, to reinforce the sand dam and anchor it the bedrock.

£85could provide a set of tools, including a hacksaw, pickaxe, claw bar, sledgehammer and shovel.

£160could supply all the shovels that a community group needs to build a sand dam.

Supporting people in drylands to build sand dams, which provide a local supply of water, means that less children die each year from curable diarrhoea and women no longer have to bare this burden. Can you help by making a donation that will stop the suffering of communities living in drylands?

Related

Becky Little and Jason Maddrell helped to build a sand dam on an Excellent expedition in 2012. They returned to lead the Excellent 2016 expedition and visited the same community four years’ on, and were astonished to see how much the area has changed.

The results of a new sand dam are astonishing to see - a green oasis in the midst of a barren and parched landscape. This community has been using the water from the dam for growing vegetables and keeping their livestock healthy.

For rural women in the world’s drylands, life is defined by the burden of collecting water. For the old and the young, the sick and the healthy, it is a chore with no relief. Even when pregnant, women must trek over long distances in order to provide their families with water.

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Read about our plan to directly support other organisations to build sand dams, in turn, realising our vision to support millions of the world’s poorest people by helping them to transform their own lives through water and soil conservation in drylands.